NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State high jumper Jacob Milton had a very busy start to the 2019 spring academic semester. Along with his normal duties as a student at NSU and a member of the ROTC, he competed in the first two indoor meets of the season. He was named MEAC Field Athlete of the Week both times after high jumping seven feet.
 
But a true Renaissance Man, Milton had much more on his plate as the semester kicked into gear. He spent nearly a week away from campus and competition while serving on the NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and taking part in the APPLE Training Institute, both in Orlando, Florida. He went from discussing national legislation at the NCAA level to giving the welcoming speech at a conference aimed at supporting student-athlete health and well-being.
 
And as you will discover later, the two events both discussed a common issue Milton is looking to address here at NSU.
 
But first, a brief background on the man of many talents.
 
A junior on the NSU track and field team, Milton has won all four MEAC high jump titles (indoor and outdoor) during his first two seasons with the Spartans. He inherited his talents from his father, George, who was an All-ACC high jumper at Clemson.
 
Jacob is an outstanding student as well, as evidenced by his recent induction into Chi Alpha Sigma, the National College Athlete Honor Society reserved for juniors and seniors with a 3.4 or higher GPA. Milton has been a regular on the Athletics Director's Honor Roll.
 
But it doesn't end there. He is also a member of the ROTC at NSU. Of course, he is used to the military life, having attended high school in Stuttgart, Germany, where his dad was stationed with the U.S. Army. His father is currently at Fort Lee in Virginia after having been stationed in the Hampton Roads area when Jacob was younger.
 
In addition, Milton is the NSU President of SAAC here at NSU. All NCAA member institutions and conferences are required to have SAACs. Their role is to provide insight into the student-athlete experience, offering input on rules, regulations and policies on a national, conference and campus-wide level.
 
Essentially, SAAC serves as the voice of the student-athletes to administrators at all three levels.
 
As the SAAC President, Milton has an important voice. He serves on the MEAC SAAC, which consists of 24 student-athletes, or two from each member institution. They review and/or make recommendations on proposed legislation discussed at NCAA conventions. They also discuss current or proposed legislation specific to the MEAC as well as general issues related to academics or athletic competition.
 
It is a busy job, especially considering SAAC's trickle down or ladder effect. Legislation is discussed at a national level, which then facilitates down to the conference level, then to the campus level. It then works in reverse, as campus SAACs discuss and make recommendations. The conference SAAC representatives then come together to discuss each school's recommendations, and they can also propose their own ideas to later take to the national level. One representative from each conference's SAAC takes those recommendations or ideas to the NCAA.
 
And that is where Milton steps in. As the conference's representative, he serves as the voice of all MEAC student-athletes to the NCAA. Each of the 32 D-I conferences has one representative on the NCAA Division I SAAC, each serving a two-year term. They come together to discuss legislation, and ultimately two of those representatives offer a student-athlete perspective to the NCAA D-I Management Council/Board of Governance.
 
For Milton, it gave him a new perspective on how things are done.
 
"It's a real humbling experience," Milton said. "It makes me really see that student-athletes do have a say in what goes on in the NCAA. It's really eye-opening as well. It shows me the actual way that the political process is done. It's just an amazing experience.
 
"It's also really interesting to see how other people have different perspectives on things that we talk about, but also making sure nobody is left out and that we try to do what's right for everybody."
 
And that is what Milton had on his plate from Jan. 22-24. As one of those 32 SAAC members, he represented the MEAC at the most recent meeting as part of the NCAA Convention in Orlando. There, they discussed the next big topics, including the ever-growing importance of mental health. It's a topic the NCAA SAAC is really working to push for the upcoming year, he said.
 
And that tied directly into Milton's next move. Following the NCAA meeting, he stayed in Orlando to help out and take part in the APPLE Training Institute, a conference put together by the University of Virginia that focuses on student-athlete wellness and substance abuse prevention. Each year, NCAA SAAC asks for a volunteer to help out at the event. Milton was chosen, which allowed him to give the welcoming speech at the conference. It ran from Jan. 25-27.
 
Last year, more than 400 student-athletes and administrators attended one of two APPLE conferences, where they learned about creating student-athlete mentoring programs and interactive educational programs, developing poster campaigns for social norms, and increasing student-athlete involvement in school orientation, according to its website.
 
At the most recent meeting, topics of discussion included drug and alcohol abuse and mental health issues. The conference included keynote speakers on those topics as well as breakout sessions. They served as opportunities to help get information to student-athletes that they can bring back to their campuses. And while there, it really hit home to Milton the importance of an ever-growing topic.
 
"That's one thing we need to start talking more about," he said. "The way they were speaking about mental health (at the APPLE conference), I could see how that could relate to some student-athletes here. They might be going through it and not know how to get the right type of help. That could cause more damage by not knowing. That's one of the main things I took away from it."
 
Next year, Milton is hoping to take a contingent of student-athletes and administrators to one of the APPLE conferences closer to home to help NSU improve its programs aimed at mental health awareness. He wants to be a key voice on that topic because he feels it is of the utmost importance right now.
 
"I really do want to harp on the mental health piece they talked about," he stated. "One of the sessions was talking about seizing the awkward and how to approach situations with people who are going through something but might not always want to talk about it. How to be more supportive and let them know they are not alone in what they are going through. The end goal is to make sure they get the help they need."
 
Although the entire process has been eye-opening, he also wanted to correct a misconception about student-athletes that tends to float out there in the public.
 
"Student-athletes do have a say in what happens. It might not always seem like they do, but if they go through the right channels, there's always a good way to get your voice heard," he stated. "That's one thing I'd like to reiterate because being on this national level, I've seen that one student-athlete's voice can make the difference in whether something goes or something doesn't. What they say really does hold power, and they should always know that."
 
Through it all, Milton is appreciative of the opportunities he's been given and the opportunities that still await. When looking back, he knows he will have made a difference.
 
"Thinking about it later on, I will think I've done my part. I've come through, made what I went through a little bit better. I've done my part to make sure the person after me has a better experience than I did."